THE SOCIAL-MEDIA ADVERTISING REPORT: Growth Forecasts, Market Trends, And The Rise Of Mobile

The increase in social-ad spending is driven by this continuously growing reach, particularly on mobile, better analytics and targeting, and performance. The rise of programmatic social platforms has also fueled growth.

New data from BI Intelligence finds that US social-media ad spend will top $8.5 billion this year and reach nearly $14 billion in 2018, up from just $6.1 billion in 2013.

In the report and associated PowerPoint presentation, BI Intelligence looks at all the numbers and explores the drivers of social ad adoption.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

Social-media advertising spend will grow rapidly through 2018. It's up 40% this year and will top $8.5 billion, growing to nearly $14 billion in 2018, a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18%.

Social media ad spend has reached the mobile-tipping point. Spending on mobile social-media ads, including mobile app-install ads, will surpass non-mobile spend by the end of this year in the US. In 2018, two-thirds of social-media ad spend will go to mobile, creating a $9.1 billion social-mobile market.

Mobile app-install ads and programmatic buying are also growth drivers. Analyses suggest that mobile app-install ads could account for anywhere from one-quarter to more than one-half of Facebook's mobile ad revenues.

Social programmatic ad platforms are also growth engines. Spending on FBX, Facebook's programmatic platform, increased by 150% year-over-year globally during the second quarter of 2014, based on a sample of advertisers compiled by Ignition One.

Prices are increasing as performance and targeting improve, even as ad loads stay steady on the established platforms. Facebook, for example, is not likely to increase the amount of in-feed native ads an average user will see.

The market is expanding with the introduction of paid ad units at Pinterest and Instagram.

In full, the report:

Provides over 15 charts and datasets on social media ad spend and performance trends

Explains why there has been a spike in spending growth on social-mobile

Sets the context in terms of social media audience trends and user growth

Lists the news on Instagram and Pinterest's ad efforts

Analyzes the influence of FBX and MoPub on the social ad ecosystem

Shows how a disproportionate amount of social media ad spend is domestic rather than international

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

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